Nick Arnett wrote:
>> Behalf Of K.Feete
>
>[snip]
>
>> Divorce and the decrease of religion I would also attribute to
>> capitalism. America has for the last century or so had a new sort of
>> religion: the American Dream. Religion (as personified by Christianity,
>> at least for me) generally says that if you are good you will be rewarded
>> and become happy in another life.
>
>That's one of the most common misconceptions about Christianity, Kat.
>However, you are quite correct in implying that it is what an awful lot of
>people, including Christians, believe. It is utterly contrary to what
>Christ taught, which was that the law (right and wrong) is good, but if you
>focus on the letter of the law, you lose the spirit of the law. His
>harshest words were about teachers of the law who were experts on it, but
>had forgotten to love. Pride in "being good" is un-Christian... and very
>human.
Right, sorry. I am aware that in its pure form Christianity doesn't
advocate the "I'm-good-you're-going-to-hell" viewpoint, and was referring
to the more, uh, popular view. Which I don't like, and have suffered
considerably from over the years, so if I *do* slip up this way please
mark it up to residual bitterness and forgive.
(Another sadly neglected Christian virtue...)
>> The Dream says that if you get a good
>> job, work hard, are faithful and loyal and good and behave yourself, then
>> you will be rewarded and become happy in *this* life, and as such is
>> naturally a somewhat more pleasant religion for those who are not that
>> enamoured with dying.
>
>And that "Dream" is no more true than the one above, as you suggest. As
>much as you may doubt religion, it appears to me that you have a better
>appreciation of it than most people!
Well, that's basically because I *do* doubt religion. I spend a lot of
time questioning it, and what's good about it (because I am the first to
admit there are good things) and what's bad about it. Doubt isn't
necessarily a bad thing for your religious viewpoint.
I'm not a Christian, but I've pretty well decided over the years that I
can tentatively believe in a Higher Power of some sort, and have spent a
certain amount of time trying to figure out exactly what that means. Oh,
yeah, and arguing with various religious folks. That's always good for
you. <grin>
>> All of this is the logical result of a system which insists that
>> happiness, an undefinable and unmeasurable state if ever there was one,
>> can be achieved by a series of defined and carefully measured actions.
>> The world doesn't work this way.
>
>Nor does God, clearly. I can testify to the fact that the only deep peace
>I've found has come from surrendering, letting go of the need to do
>something, to understand. It's been a gift that comes at very unexpected
>times. In the most extreme example, I struggled with a lot of sadness and
>anger about my best friend's son's brain tumor. No amount of understanding
>or analysis of medical knowledge, etc., brought any comfort. But telling
>God how angry I was, and acknowledging that it was because I didn't
>understand, led to a gift of peace, a restoration of happiness, that was
>totally unexpected and not the result of "being good" or "doing the right
>thing."
<nod>
One of the largest frustrations in my (admittedly pretty trauma-free)
life was attempting to explain to someone I was rather close to why I
didn't like his worldview. This went from being an adherent of the
American Dream to being very Christian over a matter of months, with much
the same view for both... it sort of peaked when he told me that he felt
"God was watching over him" because he hadn't been injured in a rather
minor car accident a few weeks before. I said, "Really? So was God
watching over the eight-year old who got raped and killed in your town
last year, too?" In the same conversation, he also told me that his
particular church sect didn't allow the playing of musical instruments in
church because they felt it was wrong to give the impression that some
people were worshipping "better" than others, and how much he liked that.
I said, "Wait a minute, I thought God was watching over you, and you
don't object to *that*, but you object to other people playing
instruments when you can't? It doesn't sound to me like you want your
worship to be equal in the eyes of God; it sounds like you don't want
anybody else to be *better*." (I am so tactful.)
This shows two of the things I like least about the reward idea, both in
Christianity and in the American Dream. First, there's this idea that you
should be *special.* You're *priviledged*, and should be treated as such.
In Christianity it leads to intolerance and that particular brand of
smugness that I happen to hate so much; in the middle-class ethic it
leads to that hatred/fear of the poor, that strange belief that they are
somehow, well, less human. They're poor, right? They must have *deserved*
to be poor. Keep them away from me; they're dirty and they're diseased
and, besides, they probably want what I've got. And if they *don't*
they're even worse (as the non-Christian daughter of people who
deliberately chose to live on the edge of the poverty line, I can
definately attest to both.)
Which brings me to my second real hatred- the fear both sets of people
have of *challenge.* In the case of the guy above, who was both
middle-class and Christian, he used to break down crying when I started
asking simple (if tactless) questions like the above, about either
subject. He would do literally anything to get out of an honest, serious
discussion that challenged his views on lifestyle or religion, simply
because he didn't have any answers.
Now, some things aren't answerable- there are some questions to which the
only answer can be "Because I have faith," at which point the wise
skeptic simply says "Well, I don't. But all right." (I am not always
wise.) Unfortunately, in a lot of cases, people interpret this to mean
that they don't have to *think*. He- and most of the people around him-
were using both their lifestyle and their religion as a means to avoid
having to think too much whereas, in my opinion at least, religion in
particular should be a catalyst for thinking. It's a shield- not a crutch.
The last, and final, problem is- to get back with the subject line
(yay!)- that such thinking is ultimately self defeating. This guy wasn't
happy. His family wasn't happy. The people around him, in general,
weren't happy. But, because they weren't willing to think about the
things they took for granted, they weren't able to *become* happy either,
and simply kept hunting for more ways to deepen the rut. His father got
fired after twenty years' working at one company so they could avoid
paying him his retirement money- but, of course, he still wanted a
corporate job. Whenever you feel bad, go buy something. It's the
neighbor's fault I'm unhappy- he's got a better car: I'll buy a new one.
Maybe I need a bigger house. Maybe if I went to church on Wednesday too.
And, always at the heart: I'm being *good*, so where's my reward?
To get back to the point: this isn't the fault of capitalism, per se- I
suspect it's always happened. Capitalism has merely intensified things.
After all, cost-benefit analysis is all you need to make a decision,
right? So if I pay *this* much the universe owes me *that* much back.
Shame it doesn't work, really.
Kat Feete
'I've gone to hundreds of fortune-tellers' parlors, and have been
told thousands of things, but nobody ever told me I was a
policewoman getting ready to arrest her.'
-- New York City Detective
